Vertical Zoo in Buenos Aires, Argentina

The Project is located in one of the lakes of the reserve due to the lakes keep changing over the course of the seasons; this factor makes them the most dynamic points of the reserve. The Project looks for accentuate the reserve formation process. The proposal emerges from the mixture between the existing ecosystem of the place and the elements that characterized the harbor landscape like containers, cranes, structures and colors.

Image Courtesy Sergio Villegas

Architects: Occlusion studio

Project: Vertical Zoo

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Team: Sergio Villegas, Alejandro Corrales, Natalia Cuartas

Project Completion Date: 2009

Project Type: Institutional

Project Site Context/Setting: Urban/Landscaping

Building Gross Floor Area: 2.000 square feet

Other Building Description: International Contest

Software used: Sketchup, 3Dmax, Vray, Photoshop, After Effects

Image Courtesy Sergio Villegas

The access to the project is through a crosswalk which joint in a perpendicular way with a reserve’s existing path. The crosswalk gets sink until the visitor loses its visual register over the reserve. Later, arrives to one of the public spaces of the project. For accessing to the zoo, the user descent to the underground level (-10m).

Image Courtesy Sergio Villegas

There, is located the administrative module; where the entrance hall is. The auditorium and the multiple room are at this level, the main circulation can be taken from this point too, it seems like a runway around the three “stones” of the vertical zoo, inside of them, are located the “environments” where the program is developed.

Image Courtesy Sergio Villegas

The circulation is developed in a spiral geometry, the visitor goes ascending in a constant way inside the “environments”, this makes different the experience of visiting a zoo. The roofs of every stone become observatories, from there; the users can contemplate all the elements, artificial and naturals that compose the landscape.

Image Courtesy Sergio Villegas

The facades are composed by steel, glass and steel mesh. The steel looks for establishing a chromatic and texture relation with the industrial landscape existing at the harbor. The glass allows to keep a constant link visitor-reserve and the mesh looks for accentuate shadows from inside and outside. The facades composition seems like a web formed by the trees of the reserve, their leafs, branches, the game of shadows and lights generated by them.